Sunday, May 5, 2013

It was rather an
exhilarating moment when the delegation from PAN and IPEN witnessed 164 governmentsagreed that ecosystem-based approaches to pest management be
made a priority. Governments recommended this approach when choosing
alternatives to endosulfan,
a dangerous insecticide targeted for global elimination. This pronouncement
appears to signal that international policies may start to change as
governments begin to take action to rid agriculture of toxic chemicals.

“This is a great
move forward”, said Dr.
Meriel Watts of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific.
“Ecosystem-based approaches to pest management have been shown to improve
farmers’ income, food security and health, and to be better for the
environment. Farmers become less reliant on expensive inputs and their
production systems are more resilient in the face of climate change and other
stressors. So this decision is very supportive of farmers, and we call on all
governments to now rapidly assist their farmers to change from
endosulfan-dependent chemical intensive farming to ecosystem-based approaches
such as agroecology and organic farming.”

Tiffany
Immingan from Saint Laurence island in Alaska making a statement at COP 6 of
the Stockholm Convention.

Indigenous
people from the Arctic pleaded with governments to stop releasing toxic persistent
organic pollutants(POPs) that reach their traditional food and endanger their
way of life. People in the Arctic have been found to have the highest
concentration of POPs in their blood and breastmilk. POPs, such as endosulfan and DDT,
bioaccumulate in high quantities in the Arctic due to a global phenomenon that
carry and deposit these toxic chemicals in the Arctic, thousands of miles away
from the place of application.

The 6th. conference
of the Parties (COP 6) to the Stockholm Convention met in Geneva, in
simultaneous and back to back meetings with COP 11 of the Basel Convention and
COP 6 of the Rotterdam Convention, April
28-May 10, 2013.

New persistent
organic pollutants have been ‘virtually’ approved for listing in the convention
(awaiting official adoption on Thursday), such as the flame retardant HBCD and
a proposed recycling exemption for HBCD was rejected. These are victories
in the struggle to protect human health and the environment.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Next week, governments from around the world will decide whether to put
strict controls on Syngenta's highly toxic herbicide paraquat — or maintain the
status quo.

This pesticide has long been banned in its country of origin, Switzerland,
and its use is highly restricted in most industrialized nations, including the
U.S. Yet it continues to be sold indiscriminately in developing countries where
farmers and workers often cannot read technical labels and are unable to
protect themselves from the pesticide's harmful effects.

Next week's decision could change all of this, as delegates to the Rotterdam
Convention on Prior Informed Consent — a global treaty governing trade in toxic
chemicals — meet in Geneva. In an open letter to these government officials,
groups around the world insist on global controls on this acutely toxic
herbicide that is hurting thousands of peasants and farmers in the developing
world.

Prior informed consent

The Rotterdam Convention dictates that countries
be informed before importing toxic chemicals that have been banned in other
countries. Countries can then take action and ban the import and use of the
chemical, or impose strict restrictions.

Paraquat (and specifically the paraquat
dichloride 20% formulation, also known as Gramoxone Super) was proposed
for inclusion on the "Prior Informed Consent" list by Burkina
Faso; this proposal will be considered behind closed doors at next week's
meeting.

The open letter, signed by 89 organizations from 35 countries and led by PAN
International and our partners at the Berne Declaration, urges governments to rise
to the occasion and take action on paraquat. It highlights the importance
of the decision, especially in developing countries:

Paraquat is a highly hazardous herbicide, with no antidote, responsible for
causing deaths and severe injuries to agricultural workers, farmers, and rural
communities worldwide.

Many very poor people, especially in Asia and Latin America, have
experienced severe health harms, and some have even died
from exposure to paraquat. The herbicide is used to
kill weeds in oil palm
plantations, as well as in rubber, bananas, coffee, pineapples, rice, corn,
and other crops.

Moneymaker for Syngenta

Paraquat is an important moneymaker for its creator and main manufacturer,
the Swiss company Syngenta. Despite bans in many countries — including
Switzerland — international policies allow exports of this antiquated herbicide for
continued use in poor communities around the world.

Now is the time to bring this dangerous chemical under control. Governments
must heed the clamor of workers, farmers, women and children around the world,
and take action.

PAN International is asking that concerned citizens around the world call
Ministries of Environment and Foreign Relations and ask them to say YES to the
inclusion of paraquat dichloride 20% formulation in the Rotterdam Convention when
governments meet next week.